Iraqis claiming abuse by US troops told by agents working for tank-chasing lawyers to blame mistreatment on ‘easy target’ Brits in bid to get more cash

IRAQIS claiming mistreatment by US troops were ordered to change their story and accuse innocent UK soldiers instead, a legal whistle-blower says.

He alleges agents working for tank-chasing British lawyers persuaded Iraqis to lie about who detained them.

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A whistle-blower has revealed Iraqis claiming mistreatment by US troops were told to switch the blame onto British troops insteadCredit: PA:Press Association

The MoD, which paid out £20million in compensation, was seen as “an easy target.”

A whistle-blower who worked for controversial law firm Leigh Day said many claims were known to be false and had been made as the Ministry of Defence was easy to cheat.

He said: “I was personally responsible for collecting the documents from the people and I found many were not detained by British forces.

“Many of them had documents referring to the American forces at that time, especially at Um Qasar jail — Camp Bucca. But they cannot sue them, so they say, ‘OK, let’s make it the British’.

“They knew they were fake claims. Everybody knows, believe me, everybody knows. Clients were urged to hide any stories concerning involvement of others. It was easy to cheat the MoD with random papers. It was all about the British.

“I was very surprised when I saw people with American papers but they were suing the British.”

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A mistreatment claim by an Iraqi who said he had suffered mistreatment from British troops

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The whistle-blower said clients were told to exaggerated or fake stories as the Ministry of Defence was easy to cheatCredit: PA:Press Association

The alleged Iraqi victims were paid a minimum of £150,000 for being detained by British troops. The whistle-blower said many spent the cash on travel, houses and cars.

He added: “It was easy money, like taking a piece of cake. Every one of us were looking at the British treasure.”

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The insider also said claims of abuse were exaggerated to bump-up payouts.

He said: “We depended on exaggeration of what happened.

“For example, if someone got a slap on the face, we made it a gun. He has been hit on his face by a gun or a wooden stick.

“We depend on exaggeration. We want to make it as much of a tragedy as much as possible to obtain more money from the British. It was very easy.”

The MoD paid out £20million in compensation to more than 300 Iraqi claimants to avoid court hearings and spent more than £100million on legal fees.

The whistle-blower said the claims were processed by a network stretching from the UK to Basra in southern Iraq.

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Human rights lawyer Phil Shiner struck off as a solicitor earlier this year over false abuse claims against UK troopsCredit: Getty Images

Human rights lawyer Phil Shiner, later struck off as a solicitor over false abuse claims against UK troops, and Leigh Day used a Manchester-based Iraqi named Mazin Younis, owner of translation firm OSW Multilingual.

Younis operated agents in Iraq, including one Abu Jamal, who gathered hundreds of cases of alleged mistreatment by troops which were passed to law firms.

These claims were then taken to court or lodged with the Iraq Historic Allegations Team, set up by the UK Government in 2010 to investigate claims of abuse.

But the whistle-blower claims many clients lodged claims against the MoD to get rich.

He said the Iraqis were coached by the firms’ agents — and filled out bogus claims forms then lied to IHAT investigators during interviews in Lebanon and Jordan.

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The Ministry of Defence paid £20million in compensation to 300 Iraqi claimantsCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd

There is no direct evidence proving Leigh Day and Phil Shiner were aware of or sanctioned the agents’ alleged behaviour.

But Younis was aware, the source insisted. He said: “I asked him ‘Why don’t we sue the American forces?’ He said, ‘It is very difficult, we cannot. But it is easy to sue British, It’s working OK’.

“I was told, ‘Don’t say American, just say British.’ Abu Jamal was doing the same thing.”

Leigh Day said all of its cases involved detention by UK troops.

It added: “Mazin Younis is an individual with whom Leigh Day had a referral arrangement. Under the arrangement, Mr Younis was obliged to act responsibly and honestly by reference to the Solicitors Code of Conduct. Proof of detention by UK Forces is essential for any case to succeed against the MoD.

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The whistle-blower said the claims were processed by a network stretching from the UK to Basra in southern IraqCredit: Getty Images

“This was a central requirement in the process which led to settlement of over 300 cases between 2012-2013, agreed by both sides.”

When asked about allegations clients were persuaded to lie, Leigh Day, said: “We are not aware of this and strongly dispute any suggestion this might have happened in any case brought by Leigh Day.”

Younis refused to comment. Leigh Day took £9.5million in fees in cases relating to abuse claims.

Younis, 59, was paid £1.6million in 2009 for supplying clients to both Shiner’s firm Public Interest Lawyers and Leigh Day.

He also got £500 “rewards” from Shiner for every claimant he could find in Iraq to make allegations against UK troops.

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The whistle-blower - who claims to have been responsible for processing the documents - says agents working for tank-chasing British lawyers persuaded Iraqis to lie about who detained themCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd

IHAT received 3,392 allegations of potential criminal behaviour, with more than 75 per cent brought by PIL and Leigh Day.

IHAT was shut down last week with a handful of cases left over now being investigated by Royal Navy Police.

The five-year Al-Sweady inquiry into alleged mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners by UK troops ruled claims of torture and murder were “wholly without foundation and entirely the product of deliberate lies and reckless speculation.”

Sources say Younis is being investigated by the National Crime Agency for his work with Leigh Day and Shiner.

Leigh Day lawyers Martyn Day, Sapna Malik and Anna Crowther were cleared in June of 20 misconduct allegations.

Both the MoD and Leigh Day insist their paperwork made it clear compensation was only paid to Iraqis detained by British forces.

Three who blamed UK

THE whistle-blower claims large numbers of Iraqis attempted to sue the Ministry of Defence despite being detained by American forces.
These three cases allegedly show incidents where people were held by the Americans but were “persuaded” to lodge wrongful detention cases against the British.

Case study 1

THIS client was “detained and processed into the US Prisoner of war internment” facility at Camp Bucca but lodged claims against British forces.NAME: Ali Al HellalyAGE AT DETENTION: 27ADDRESS: Shaiba – BasrahARREST DATE: 07/04/2003DETENTION CENTRE: Camp Bucca, BasrahARREST DURATION: One month and eight days

Case study 2

THE client was injured by American forces. He was shot in the right leg during a traffic stop by a US military convoy near Umm Qasr.
He was subsequently taken to a UK hospital in Kuwait where he was treated for 20 days. He lodged injury claims against the MoD.NAME: Najem SalimDATE OF INJURY: 26/03/2003ADDRESS: Basrah — Safwan

Case study 3

CLIENT was “detained and processed into the US Prisoner of war internment” but lodged a claim with the MoD for wrongful detention.

NAME: Al GarrotiDATE OF BIRTH: 04/08/1977HELD: Camp BuccaARREST DATE: 30/03/2003
It is not known if these claims were successful or whether they were rooted out by investigators.